Swearing Off Stars by Danielle Wong

Author:Danielle Wong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

THREE weeks had passed since I opened that emotional letter. I was still trying to figure out how to put it all behind me. Why on earth did I have to find that letter in the first place? I was simply organizing my parents’ study, and there it was. I was sure they hadn’t kept it from me on purpose. After all, they had no idea who Scarlett Daniels even was. It must have been an honest misplacement. Oddly enough, though, the letter almost seemed to find me.

I had tried to be amicable with her that day in the coffee shop. In my opinion, we had been great friends before it turned into something more. But not according to Scarlett. God, she was so stubborn sometimes. If she refused to at least be friendly, the situation was out of my hands. She was a married woman now.

I eventually resumed my routine and went back to work. The journal I wrote for—Eastern Weekly, a politically-driven paper with medium-sized circulation—had offices in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. I had recently been promoted to managing editor, which was still a shock to me, considering that some of the men in the office didn’t think women should be working at all. Needless to say, I valued my job more than many things. I’d opted to work in Brooklyn, since it was a casual office environment and much closer to my apartment.

I’d become heavily involved with the National Women’s Trade Union League after graduating college in the twenties, advocating for improved wages and working conditions for women. From there, I’d gone on to intern at a local paper, and had worked my way up to staff writer. I loved interviewing political figures and writing about current issues. It felt like I was making a contribution, even if it was a small one.

After women won the right to vote, I assumed equality would flourish. But that wasn’t the case. Many were satisfied with the newfound suffrage, unmotivated to continue the fight. It appalled me. My passion for my work was one of the things that had ended my relationship with Beck.

Our office was male-dominated like any other, but I made an effort to involve as many women as possible in the journal’s production, especially now that the war was over. Besides secretarial jobs, I had fought for the creation of other positions that benefitted from female employees. The paper had become more balanced in the many years I’d worked there, and now that I was managing editor, I hoped to effect even more change.

Work occupied most of my time, but I preferred it that way. I tried to see the few friends I’d managed to keep in my life on the weekends. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen Robbie. He enlisted in the military shortly after marrying Ness—something that she’d unsuccessfully tried to talk him out of. Robbie never quite moved on from his brother’s death, and enlisting was his way of feeling closer to Ben.

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